They Lie

This week's posts are being sourced and moderated by the Antipoverty Centre (@antipovertycent) to spark thinking and discussion about poverty during Anti-Poverty Week. Today’s post by Robyn Hansen explores what we all lose by undervaluing the skills, knowledge and abilities of people outside the labour force.

I am a proud Australian who was brought up in a working-class town where people often struggled but poverty was unknown. It was multicultural before that word was even used.

Any surplus was shared between neighbours. Nothing was wasted. Everyone contributed and everyone had value. Today, it is different.

We hear a lot about waste. It seems every day there is a new conversation about landfills, recycling bins, asbestos in mulch, fast-fashion and food waste. I want to talk about a different sort of waste. Not the sort you put in your compost bin. I believe we are wasting people. Our society, and particularly our governments, do not value the skills, knowledge and abilities of the thousands of people who are neglected and ignored by our "welfare" system.

We all have experience but don't get listened to. We aren't "influencers" on social media so no one wants to hear what we say. Many of us have survived the school system and still managed to live, love and grow. Many have studied after school at TAFE or university and have become redundant. Most have worked in some capacity and contributed to community. We have learned the hard way what works and what doesn't. Despite this, we are ignored and set aside in any discussion of what can be done better in our communities.  We are forcing so many of our community into misery, poverty and despair.

They lie, the men who tell us in a loud decisive tone

That want is here a stranger, and that misery's unknown;

Henry Lawson. 1888.

I am 60 and I have some mobility issues. I've been on Disability Support Pension for nine years. I volunteer as a support worker for Justice Advocacy and as an arts and crafts activities person at a residential space for older people. The government is content to benefit from my skills and experience but has no intention of paying me anything for my contribution. Volunteers like me fill so many roles in society and are ignored. We are thrown on the waste heap and shunned, criticised, ignored and left to rot with no hope, no housing security and no superannuation.

I worked for many years as a literacy and numeracy teacher for adults. I learned so much during that time. So many of them had been thrown aside by the education system as troubled, naughty and difficult students. Many had experience with the prison system and a lot had experimented with drugs. These people had been made to feel worthless. They felt they had been put on the rubbish heap by society.

One of the activities I used to do, was to take my groups to the library. It would take me weeks to convince them that they were allowed to go into the library. They would worry that someone would be able to tell that they couldn’t read well and would demand they leave. It took a lot of encouragement to get them through that door for the first time.

In those classes I found men and women who had an amazing array of skills and talents. I was in awe of these wonderful people and how much they had achieved in their lives while still struggling to read or write. They had learned work-arounds for problems that most university graduates would never have dreamed of. They had battled discrimination, put downs and judgement every single day.

I felt blessed to spend time with these wonderful people. I learned so much about determination, instinct and inner strength. I was fortunate to be there when some got their first job and I saw the pure joy they experienced. These are just some of the people that the ‘system” treats as waste – unwanted, troublesome and showing no immediate economic value.

I have tried to offer my services for free to community groups in several places I have lived. So many people acknowledge that it is a problem, but they say they aren’t funded, haven’t got time, haven’t got space, someone else should be doing that and on and on. I have seen how improving literacy and numeracy skills can change lives, help families, improve health outcomes, reduce criminality and allow people to feel proud of themselves.

I have been fortunate to work with many people over the years who have intellectual and physical limitations. These have been some of the coolest people I have ever worked with. My experience has shown me people who are comfortable in themselves, love life, laugh often, have amazing intelligence and appreciate the world around them.

If we were to look at how society, governments and politicians treat these wonderful people, we would think they were a burden, an unbearable cost, something to be constrained and confined. More waste that they must find a solution for. I, too, am judged to be part of this worthless social problem. I am an “older person” with a “disability”. 

I have highlighted just a few of the experiences I know personally. We aren’t waste or worthless, flotsam blown up on Australia’s shores. We have a lot to contribute to society. We have experience, skills, knowledge, perseverance and value. Australia needs to acknowledge and celebrate the bounty of human diversity contained within our borders. It would be a poorer world without variety. Let us create an environment where everyone is valued and “misery’s unknown”.

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Note: The Antipoverty Centre raises funds independently to pay people on low incomes who write about their experiences in recognition of their expertise. Support this work by donating to the Centre’s dedicated Writers’ Fund is here. 100% of funds raised are used for this purpose. Past articles commissioned by the Antipoverty Centre are collated here.